Well, as far as we’re concerned, Spring is here. We have 12 lambs on the ground and more to come…all of a sudden it feels as if our tiny barn is even tinier! Our big barn holds the Angora goats, who will be kidding later this month, so the sheep are a wee bit tight for space at the moment. Today began with a beautiful soft March snow…warm enough to spend all day outside in it. The children are no doubt feeling the change as well. They are playing in the woods outside in the dark by lantern light as I type.

I managed to get a few photos during the snow (with much help from my assistants!), which always gives me joy. It puts things in a light that helps me to remember how much I love farming. Some days are hard, but having a single evocative photograph eases the pain of our Border Collie killing one of our two remaining ducks, or stillborn quadruplets, such as we had this morning. The ewe was just too young, and her body couldn’t handle that many babies. They never developed beyond about 2 months. Such things happen, and we suspected she would abort at some point given that she never developed an udder. Grief arrives nonetheless, but is softened by all the life around us.